


Inkbound

by hyuckaboo



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Demon Suh Youngho | Johnny, Lovers to enemies to lovers, M/M, Multi, Pre-Poly, Tattoo Artist Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten, Witch Lee Donghyuck | Haechan, square: ink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:01:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27906415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hyuckaboo/pseuds/hyuckaboo
Summary: Ten’s past and present collide when a witch stumbles into his studio begging for protection against Johnny Suh, notorious half-demon dealmaker and Ten’s former best friend. He’s hesitant to help Haechan, but once he agrees to take him as an apprentice, their fates are sealed in ink as permanent as Ten’s talisman tattoos.Ten never asked for this.
Relationships: Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Suh Youngho | Johnny, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Suh Youngho | Johnny, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Suh Youngho | Johnny
Comments: 14
Kudos: 197
Collections: THE COLLECTION





	Inkbound

**Author's Note:**

> A few definitions that might help make sense of this setting:  
> * “Witch” is a general catch-all for human magic users with formal academic training and/or powerful magic. Not all those with magical gifts have the power or ambition to become witches, though many train in other magic related fields.  
> * "Academies" are where witches train— they enroll college age students  
> * Magic users/beings tend to congregate together in formal or informal “communities,” though some live among the mundane in secrecy instead.

Settling in Boston and opening up a tattoo parlor hadn’t exactly been Ten’s adventurous life plan when he was a teen, but as a backup plan, it’s been going pretty well. They’ve been open almost three years now, a small shop tucked into a side street, and business has been… maybe not booming, but steadily increasing. Hendery tells him that they’d get more clients if he used Instagram or other social media, but Ten worries that would make it a little too easy for the wrong kind of people to find him. His “special” clients pay more than enough to keep their doors open, anyways.

Hendery has a little booth for piercings and takes appointments a few evenings a week, but most of the time the shop is all Ten’s. His art covers the walls, hundreds of mundane tattoo designs with a few choice talismans interspersed throughout. The right kind of people know what to look for. They don’t often venture out of the Community, but Ten’s work is worth their typical irritation at travelling through the mundie areas of the city.

Ten’s work may be coveted, but that doesn’t make him immune to no-shows. He should know better than to be so flexible, honestly. He takes appointments at all hours of the day, but a one-AM session to accommodate a mundie client was really pushing it. Half an hour into the scheduled slot, he stands, stretches, and starts shutting things down for the night. Louis meows grouchily when Ten moves him off the register, so Ten meows right back. He wonders idly if it would be worth a run to the 24-hour corner store for some sushi or if he ought to just head to bed and feast in the morning.

“What do you think, Louis, do we need any sushi tonight, or can we wait?”

Louis mrrps.

“Yeah, just what I thought you’d say, you little glutton.”

He cashes out the register, puts away his tools, double checks the lock and wards on the basement, and is about the flip the window sign to “closed,” when his front door is thrown open. The bell above the doorframe jingles wildly and Louis vanishes behind the counter with a puffball tail as a man hastily enters.

Ten can practically smell his desperation, along with his magic, but he’s not impressed on either count.

“I’m sorry, but I’m closing up the night. You’ll have to come back tomorrow.” Louis meows his agreement from the back.

“Please,” his visitor blurts out, and Ten realizes he’s a lot younger than he'd assumed. He’d be damned if this guy is a day over twenty. His skin is tan, but he has a chalky pallor, and Ten could probably store money in the bags under his eyes. “Please, I need your help.”

“There’s no help I can offer this late at night, buddy. I’m just a tattoo artist. I’ve got some time open tomorrow afternoon if that’s what you’re looking for, but right now I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

“No, you don’t understand! He’s going to kill me!” This guy looks an inch away from tears. Ten hates that he still has a heart. He sighs and steers him over to the couch in the waiting area, twisting the lock on the front door as he passes it.

“Okay, kid, what the hell makes you think I can help you,” Ten slips into the chair across from him and crosses his arms. 

“I need a talisman, anti-detection and ward type. Please, you’re the best there is, everyone on the east coast knows it.”

Ten cocks an eyebrow. “And what’s the emergency? Paper talismans do just fine short-term. Even if you don’t know how to make them, it’s hardly difficult to find a witch with a little inscription training in Boston.” Ten never got a witch’s training himself, but he knows that’s part of the curriculum. Anyone with a little magic and a steady hand could make a simple paper talisman, and he knew of a couple local magi-smiths (Hendery’s supplier Xiaojun, for one) who crafted them in metal and stone for a longer lasting effect.

There are fairly limited cases where a person would need the assurance of a life-long lasting tattoo talisman in the place of a temporary measure; vocational hazards or Complicated Situations. Paper talismans work until the magic used in scribing them runs out, but tattoo talismans bind to the lifeforce of the wearer and lasts until they die.

“No, it’s… it’s for a cross-blood. Against a cross-blood, I mean.”

Ah, Complicated. Great. It’s relatively simple to make a talisman that repels vampires, as it is to make ones that repels certain classes of fae, or demons, or other creatures. But the moment you get a vampire-faerie cross-blood, for example, neither talisman will do a thing against that hybrid. Any such talisman would need to be designed specifically for each unique creature, and they take more energy to maintain than any other type of talisman, so paper or other material vessels don’t have enough oomph to power them.

“Look, kid. What’s your name?”

“Haechan, I--“ Ten puts up a hand to cut him off.

“Haechan, look. It is nearly two in the morning. I don’t know you, but you came to my studio begging for a talisman that would not only be incredibly expensive, but also take me weeks to design. Why should I help you?”

Haechan’s face crumples, but he doesn’t cry. “Kun said you would help me. He said you would know what to do and you would help me.”

Ah, Kun. That motherfucker. Ten pulls out his cell phone and dials the bastard up. “Stay here, kid. Louis, keep an eye on our guest,” he instructs as he sweeps off into the backroom. Louis meows and tries to follow him instead, so Ten has to block him with his foot as he closes the door.

The call goes to voicemail the first time, and the second and third times, before Kun finally picks up on the fourth. “Chittaphon, I swear—”

“Who the fuck did you send to my shop, Kunnie?”

Kun sounds a lot more focused all of a sudden. “Oh hells, he ended up there, huh? I told him to go to Taeil first, but maybe he couldn’t get ahold of him.”

“Taeil’s in Geneva for that church conference, Kun.”

“That would explain it. Well, I’m glad he caught you then. Listen, he’s a good kid, but he’s got a dumb and stubborn streak a mile wide and it finally landed him in major trouble. You’ll help him, right? I’m going to be in China for a while longer with the way these negotiations are turning out, but with you I know he’ll be safe.”

“He just barged into my shop at one AM asking for a custom cross-breed anti-detection and ward, Kun. That is some very expensive trouble to be in. I don’t think I even have all the reagents I would need for the ink, not to mention the time to design it. You’re really going to dump this on me?” This is asking way too much.

“I hope you aren’t thinking of turning that poor boy away. You do owe me, Chittaphon, remember that.” Oh, Ten remembers, and Kun doesn’t play that card lightly. “I can cover some of the cost, and get you connected with the reagents you’ll need, but you are helping Haechan or else, hear me? You are not sending him away. Swear it.”

Ten stays silent for long enough to convey that he is exceptionally unhappy about the situation, before saying, “Fine, I swear it to you, you asshole,” and hanging up. He feels the promise settle under his skin and shudders. Oath witches were the worst.

Back in the studio, Haechan is leaning in to stare at one of his more abstract designs hanging above the couch. He sits down abruptly when he spots Ten, expression still terrified.

“Alright, kid, calm down a little. I’m going to help you out. Want to start by telling me what dumb shit you did to end up here?”

“Uhhh, attempted a summoning that was maybe too far out of my skill level?”

Ten laughs. “No shit. What kind of cross-blood are we talking about?”

“A demon-witch,” Haechan replies in a small voice and Ten stop laughing. He can hear his own blood rushing through his ears, his chest getting tighter. He opens his mouth to tell Haechan to get lost, but nothing comes out. Damn oath witch. He shouldn’t have made that promise without asking more questions first.

Hybrids are rare to begin with, no matter the type. Sure, there are probably more vampire-witch cross-bloods than any other combination, but instances of most other hybrid blends could be counted on one’s fingers. There’s only one demon-witch Ten knows of, and he has no desire to cross him.

Most of the time, when a witch botches a demon summoning, they either die and pay their dues in eternal suffering, or they manage to kill or exile the demon and forestall their eternal torment until a later date. When Johnny Suh botched a summon, he became something else. Something new and twisted. Might have had something to do with an experimental anti-possession talisman a younger Ten had hooked him up with, but it’s not possible to know for sure.

Either way, Ten hasn’t seen him since, and would prefer to keep it that way. His old friend has garnered quite a reputation over the last few years.

“What on earth possessed you to try to summon Johnny Suh? Why not go straight for one of the lords of hell if you were so eager to dig your own grave?”

Haechan looks sullen. “It was… a dare.”

Ten rolls his eyes. “The stupidity of young witches never fails to amaze me. Okay, here’s how we’re going to do this. Firstly, I am not tattooing you.”

Panic erupts on Haechan’s face and he opens his mouth to speak but Ten keeps going. “I’m not throwing you out, either, though. Kun made me promise. If you want a talisman, you’re going to do it yourself. I’m taking you on as an apprentice.”

Haechan sputters a little. “But that’ll take forever! What if he finds me before I can learn how?”

“It would take a long time even if I was doing it myself, anyways. You’ll stay here in the meantime. I’ve got a solid amount of charms and wards here, especially over the basement. It’s not as foolproof as the completed tattoo talisman will be, but it should work for now to keep you hidden.”

Haechan launches himself at Ten so quickly that it takes him several seconds to realize he’s being hugged. Oh boy.

“Yep, okay, hugging is a thing we’re doing now. It is approximately way too late at night for this.” He extracts himself from the embrace with a little difficulty. This kid is a clinger. “You should probably stay in the basement for the most safety, I guess. That’s where I take my talisman clients, so you can sleep on the tattoo bed, and there should be a couple blankets. There’s a shower in the bathroom too. We’ll sort out the details in the morning.”

He ushers Haechan downstairs before he can argue and makes sure to re-set the seals on the basement door on his way up as Louis watches from a perch on the front counter. He can tell the little fucker is judging him. “And don’t touch any of the tools!” He belatedly calls through the sealed door. He doesn’t hear a response but he’s ready to go to sleep. If he finds out in the morning that the kid fucked with his stuff, then he’ll find a way around Kun’s promise to make him regret it. He flicks the studio lights off and heads upstairs to the apartment he keeps over the shop, Louis at his heels.  
  


***

Luckily for Haechan, he does keep his hands to himself that night, and they hammer out a simple apprenticeship plan in the morning. Haechan had left the witches academy before he would have gotten up to any inscription training, so Ten will need to teach him from the ground up. Kun wired over some money that Ten used to buy spare supplies and regents, and so Haechan’s training began.

The safest place for Haechan to be is the basement, but during the daytime Ten determines he should be safe enough within the walls of the studio proper, too. It takes a few days for Haechan to gather his courage to ascend. Ten actually has to force him out in order to take a talisman client in the basement space. As an apprentice, there would be a time when Haechan would stay to observe and assist in such a project, but not so early on. Ten doesn’t want him disturbing his work.

Haechan isn’t a terrible student starting out, but he isn’t a great one either. He’s a quick learner, and clever. However, he gets bored fast with all the foundational theory Ten needs him to internalize, and he grows frustrated when he keeps rushing through practice templates and getting them wrong. Inscription is a delicate work, and tattooing even more so. Ten has to set Haechan to drawing studies to practice keeping his hand steady and his pace even before they can diver deeper into more technical stuff. He does take to these exercises quite well, grumbling aside.

While Haechan may not be a terrible student, he absolutely is a terrible apprentice. Ten shouldn’t have been so quick to assure Haechan that he was bound by oath to keep him safe, as there was no way after that point for Haechan to develop a healthy fear of him. It turned out that when he wasn’t actively terrified, Haechan was a brat.

When Ten had kicked him out the basement for his client, Haechan was quick to befriend Hendery. Ten emerged to find the two of them huddled together over a jewelry display case, gossiping about him. Hendery got a pinch on his butt for being a little traitor and Haechan got a light swat, but neither were deterred from continuing their conversation as if he wasn’t right there.

“So, he doesn’t have a boyfriend?” Haechan asks, cupping his chin in his palm as he rests his elbow on the case. Ten can already spot smudges in the glass. “Why not, he’s super hot?”

“Don’t you fucking dare answer that, Donkey,” Ten warns.

Hendery has the gall to laugh and answer anyways, “I dunno, I think he’s still hung up on an ex from ages ago. Whenever he gets drunk, he keeps ranting about how Louis is the only man he can trust not to change on him, or something. Louis the cat, I should specify.”

Ten resolves to stash frogs in his cabinet in retribution for this ultimate betrayal.

“Come on, back to the dungeon with you,” he pulls a squirming Haechan back downstairs to resume lessons before the brat can ask any follow up questions. He shudders to imagine what else Hendery spilled before he interrupted.

Knowing details about Ten’s personal life, even sourced from a third party, is enough to encourage Haechan to become an absolute nuisance.

He laughs (laughs!!) when Ten tells him he needed to mind his own business, as if they were old pals and not master and apprentice.

“He’s just so—irreverent!” Ten complains to Kun on the phone, who is entirely unsympathetic.

“Ten, when have you shown reverence to anyone, ever? You were the bane of your teacher’s lives when we were in middle school. This is absolutely justice for what you put them through back then.”

It figures Kun would take his old teachers’ side. He always was a teacher’s pet, and now that he works in one of the academies, he’s even worse. That was how he’d met Haechan, before the kid had gotten himself suspended. Kun had tried to keep an eye on him from afar, but there’s only so much he could do, especially since he’d been called all the way to China to help with the lengthy Eastern Fae Court treaty renegotiations.

Haechan isn’t obnoxious all the time, thankfully. Being cooped up in the studio inspires a lot of wound up energy, but also pensive moods. Sometimes Ten catches him on the chair next to the studio windows, half-finished sketches abandoned beside him as he presses his cheek to the window. The studio doesn’t get any direct sunlight, tucked into a narrow side street as it is, but you can see a small patch of the sunny park across from the intersecting street, and Ten knows that’s what he’s looking at. As the weeks go by without him being able to go outside, it feels like Haechan is wilting like a flower.

Ten commissions a sun lamp from Winwin and sticks it in the basement. It’s enchanted to glow with solar energy and mimic the relative intensity of the sunlight outside each day, though that can be overridden if you need more light on cloudy days or something like that. Ten sticks it in the corner and tells Haechan it’s because he needs better lighting for an intricate ritual talisman project he has coming up. Haechan just gives him a tight hug. Gross.

Once Ten is satisfied that Haechan’s drawing hands have gotten steady enough, he lets him move on from studying theoretical stuff to the practical elements, and that’s when Haechan really starts to shine. He masters some simple paper talismans faster than even Ten might have when he first started training and extrapolates correctly how some other ones might be designed before Ten even thinks to start covering them. His linework is tight and tidy after all his sketching exercises, and Ten wonders whether or not it would be too early to start him practicing with the tattoo gun. Haechan has a bit more trouble making inks than using them, so that’s where Ten decides to focus the training for now.

***

Ten is sitting at the studio counter one autumn afternoon, looking over his upcoming appointments with Louis curled around his feet. Haechan is in the basement—he kept messing up an ink concoction Ten had tried to teach him earlier than day, and Ten is hardly a bastion of patience and skilled teaching, so he’d locked the kid in until he has a successful mix to show him.

“Tennie,” a warm voice greets him.

A familiar voice. “Holy shit.” Ten’s upper body whips upright and he tears a page of the scheduling book halfway out with the jerky movement. “You son of a bitch.”

Johnny Suh just beams down at him, eyes glinting. “That’s mean, Tennie. Didn’t you miss me?”

Ten has missed Johnny, a lot. It’s been four years since he’s seen his best friend. Four years since Atlanta, where a poorly planned summoning turned him into a cross-blood and Ten had run far, far away.

Johnny looks mostly the same as he did before the ‘incident’ that lead to their separation. Ten knows looks can be deceiving, but that familiar gaze makes his heart flutters in his chest all the same.

“Johnny…” Before he can stop to think about it, Ten is standing up and embracing him. Wow, Johnny’s hugs haven’t changed either. Ten presses his cheek to Johnny’s chest and savors the warmth of the familiar arms wrapped around him. After a few moments too long of indulging himself, Ten steps back behind the counter and clears his throat.

“I did miss you, John, you big bastard. But I do have to ask, why the hell are you here?”

“I can’t miss my best bud?” Johnny pouts and Ten fruitlessly tries to harden his heart. He should feel threatened that a powerful demon-witch waltzed into his shop like the wards set into the stonework and decorating the walls were nothing. Not fond and nostalgic.

“This place is hard to find by design for the wrong type of folks. Most of your kind wouldn’t be able to, and even then, they would have a tough time withstanding the suppressor charms I’ve got on the walls.”

Johnny laughs. “I’m one a kind, Tennie, didn’t you know? Or did you just mean cross-bloods, because that’s a little racist, babe.”

“I meant demon blood, you twat. Anyway, what brings you here, really?”

Johnny smiles his pleasant smile down at him. “I think you know, Tennie.”

Ten crosses his arms nonchalantly, slipping his fingers into a hidden pocket where he keeps the shield charm Sicheng gifted him a few years back. “Humor me, honey.”

“You’re protecting someone who owes me blood. I know he’s cute, Ten, but is that really worth coming between our years of friendship?”

Ten bristles. “That better not be a threat, Johnny Suh.” Not that Ten could do much if Johnny did decide to make a threat, other than hope the studio’s wards would suppress the worst of his power. “Besides, I don’t know what you’re talking about—”

“Ten!” Haechan’s voice carried through the basement door. “I figured it out, Ten!”

Johnny smiles serenely and lowers himself into a waiting area chair. Ten continues to glare at him. Haechan has such great timing.

“Did you hear me? Let me out so I can show you!”

Moments passed and Ten stubbornly refuses to acknowledge the disturbance from behind the door. He continues staring down Johnny with his armed crossed. Maybe Johnny would be so intimidated he would just leave.

“You look kind of like your cat when you pout like that, Tennie,” Johnny remarks, not dropping his smile. He has the audacity to look bemused. Louis meows a complaint from under the counter.

“Fine, I got it myself!” There’s a click as Haechan manages to jimmy the lock open from the inside (with what better not be Ten’s tools), and he emerges. “See, look!” Haechan holds the bowl out for Ten to inspect, then glances at Johnny, and immediately drops it. The ceramic shatters over the floor, its iridescent contents splattering everywhere. He hadn’t even gotten the mix right, Ten thinks distantly, or it would have had more viscosity and wouldn’t have made such a mess.

Haechan stays frozen for a few seconds, face ashen. Johnny lifts his right hand and wiggles his fingers in a wave, which snaps the kid out it. He about-faces and runs back down the stairs, slamming the door behind him. They hear another click.

Ten surveys the mess, then collapses back into his chair. “While it would bring me great pleasure right now to rid myself of that mess-maker, I’m afraid I can’t let you have my apprentice.”

“Apprentice?” Johnny lets out a rumbling laugh. “I never thought I’d see the day. Didn’t you always say you’d never take one on? There are so many others in the Community who would kill to study under a Leechaiyapornkul inscription master. You don’t need to settle for that one.”

Be that as it may, “He’ll shape up eventually, I’m sure. You’re not taking him.”

Johnny’s irises slip from brown to red, and Ten hopes against hope that his Johnny is still behind those demon eyes. He remembers now the reason he ran away when Johnny transformed, how he’d been afraid that there would be nothing left of the man he’d loved for so long. The reputation Johnny had built up during their separation had only reinforced that fear. This is not how Ten had pictured their reunion.

As suddenly as they first shifted, Johnny’s eyes revert back to brown. “Don’t look so tense, Tennie,” he says with another smile. “I wouldn’t make a scene in this lovely studio. You’ve always talked about settling down with a place like this, right?”

“Right…” Ten isn’t built for this much emotional whiplash. Louis doesn’t like it either, apparently, hopping up onto the counter to complain.

“Awww, did I wake you up, Louis? Sorry, baby.” The dumb cat is easily appeased by some scratches under his chin, settling after just a few meows. “I missed you too, buddy.”

“Johnny, stop sweet talking my cat. Am I kicking you out of the studio? Or are you giving up on your chase so we can relax and catch up?”

“Tell you what, Tennie. We can make a little deal. You let me stick around to chat, and so long as Donghyuckie is inside this building, I won’t do him any harm. I won’t disrespect your space like that. Here,” he extends his hand. “To seal it.”

Ten takes a few moments to replay Johnny’s words in his head, parsing them thoroughly to make sure he doesn’t miss any hidden meanings, before he accepts the shake. It’s a generous gesture on the demon-witch’s part, though Ten is going to need to call in some major favors from friends to get Haechan out of Boston without Johnny’s notice once he does finally get his talisman.

“Well, now that that’s settled, tell me, Ten—how have you been?”

They chat for about an hour, and Ten is happy to find that, demon-blood and funky eyes aside… Johnny doesn’t seem to have changed too much. He’s still the same charming dork he was when they were twenty, with a few years of wisdom and layers of mystery to add to the mix. He won’t tell Ten much about what he’s been up to (“I need to maintain my cool and mysterious reputation, Tennie. I promise I’m not getting into too much trouble,” he deflected with a wink). When Ten’s next appointment comes in, Johnny says farewell with a kiss on the cheek and a promise to come by later.

“Send a heads-up next time, Johnny!” Ten calls after him. For Haechan’s sake; Ten wouldn’t mind another surprise visit, but if Haechan got startled again and broke something else, Ten would need to flay him, so that would be best avoided.

After his client is finished, he heads downstairs to check on his apprentice, and finds him trembling in the bathroom, curled into a ball.

Ten sighs and braces himself before he kneels down next to him and opens his arms. Haechan lunges into the embrace with enough gusto to knock Ten onto his butt, but he decides not to complain. He rubs Haechan’s back.

“We made a deal, Haechannie, he’s not going to pull anything while you’re here in the building.”

“He made a deal with you? Why?” Haechan’s voice is muffled where he’s pressed his face to Ten’s chest.

“John and I have a little history. Nothing you need to worry about, but trust me when I say that you’re safe here. We’re going to need to get creative when it’s finally time for you to leave, but we can worry about that later. For now, so long as you stay in the building, he won’t hurt you.”

They stay like that for a while, until Haechan has stopped shaking and Ten suspects he’s starting to milk it.

“So, what kind of ‘history’ do you have with the infamous Johnny Suh, Ten?” Haechan asks, and yup, that’s enough.

Ten gives his apprentice a soft swat on the butt and let’s go of him, watching with satisfaction as Haechan barely avoids faceplanting on the floor. “When I said you don’t need to worry about it, I meant don’t bother asking.”

Haechan grips the edge of the sink to pull himself upright. “Say no more, Tennie, I know that means.” He wiggles his eyebrows salaciously.

“Do _not_ call me that, you brat. Actually, on the subject of names, want to tell me why the demon-witch cross-blood that’s gunning for you is calling you _Donghyuck_?” Not all those in the Community use aliases, but it is common practice in certain profession. Summoners, hunters, exorcists, and anyone else who routinely deals with various breeds of outsiders always use them because some creatures can really fuck you up with that kind of information. Ten uses one because of family tradition, but it’s proven useful in the past. If Johnny is referring to Haechan by his real name, that is bad news.

Haechan flushes bright red. “Look, it was a really, really, bad fuck up, alright? I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Fine with me. You don’t ask me for my Johnny stories, I won’t ask you for yours. Now, what the hell were you doing with that mixture? You’re cleaning that up, by the way, before I make you try again.”

***

Johnny does not bother giving a heads up before he shows up the next afternoon, causing Haechan to trip backwards over the jewelry display case he was polishing and scramble on his knees across the room.

“Chill out, Donghyuckie, didn’t Tennie tell you I wouldn’t lay a finger on you here?” Johnny leans over the case to tease, and Haechan just says “Guh,” turns scarlet, and runs downstairs.

“And didn’t Tennie tell you to call first,” Ten complains, picking up Haechan’s discarded rag to finish the job himself.

“Aw, babe, I’m sorry for the surprise. I got some other business taken care of earlier than expected, and I was in the neighborhood. Forgive me?” He pouts and opens his arms, and Ten grumbles but tucks himself into the offered embrace.

“Did you grow even taller since becoming demon blood? I swear, as if you weren’t practically a tree already.”

“Tennie, last time we saw each other you were in your platform boots phase. I hate to tell you, but you’re the one who’s gotten shorter. Didn’t even realize that was possible.”

Ten tries to give him the smack he deserves, but when Johnny deflects the blow and traps his fingers in his stupid-large hand, he blushes.

“What business were you up to, anyway?” Ten asks, giving Johnny’s hand a squeeze and dragging him to sit beside him on the waiting area couch.

“Oh, mysterious witch-demon stuff, nothing for you to worry about.”

“Johnny…” Ten sighed. “I do have friends in the local Community, you know. I’d like to be reassured you aren’t screwing over anyone I care about.”

“Well… I’d feel pretty hurt if you were friendly with anyone from the Contra clan, honestly.”

“The Contra? I thought they all cleared out of Boston?” The Contra hunter clan is a fringe group, to put it lightly. Most hunters made their careers by hunting down magical creatures or outsiders who had become a “problem” in some way, but the Contra took a more proactive approach—they were dedicated to the extermination of all demon-blood, even those that hadn’t done harm. Disavowed by leadership in Communities across the states, they still popped up from time to time. They’d made a base in Boston for a while, but Kun had told Ten that they were driven out a while back.

“Not all of them left, nope. So, I hope I have your blessing to keep up my business against them?”

Ten laughs. “By all means. One of them tried getting a talisman here, you know. When he popped off his shirt and I saw that massive broken pentagram clan mark, I had to make up some nonsense about how it would fuck up the talisman energy to get him to leave. A hunter friend of mine ended up playing watchdog over the studio until they left the city. Or, I guess, until we thought they left the city.”

“It’s only a small group left,” Johnny says with a sharp smile. “And getting smaller by the day. You don’t have anything to worry about, babe.”

They chat for a while longer, hand in hand on the couch, until Hendery comes in for his shift.

“Hey, boss,” he greets Ten calmly, then sweeps his bangs off his right eye, flashing the bright blue iris that appears whenever he uses his Sight. “Just want you to know you’re sharing the couch with a demon in case you weren’t aware. How’d he even get in here?”

“Through the door, how else?” Johnny tilts a dangerous smile up at Hendery. “I’m Johnny Suh, nice to meet you.”

Hendery takes that pretty well, all things considered. He only stares for a couple moments too long before he blinks rapidly and starts setting up his station.

“Well, that’s nice. Need me to ring Lucas, Ten?” Yukhei is a mutual hunter friend, well renowned in the Community but definitely below Johnny Suh’s weight class. It was him who had declared himself the studio’s bodyguard back when the Contra were a potential threat.

“No, he’s a friend, no need to worry,” Ten assures Hendery. “Haechannie is more of a threat to the studio than he is, really.”

“Did he spill more of that ink? Maybe you should just move past that part, boss,” Hendery seems fine to move on, but Ten knows he’ll be fielding more questions once their cross-blood guest leaves. Oh god. Hendery saw them holding hands. There’s no way he’ll be able to keep this from Haechan now, those bastard gossips.

“I’m afraid I need to head out now anyways, babe,” Johnny says, and Hendery flashes wide eyes at Ten at the endearment. Ten wonders if he can find a pretext to fire Hendery that wouldn’t land him on Kun’s shit list. There is no saving his dignity now.

Sure enough, Hendery launches a barrage of questions at Ten the moment Johnny leaves, and Haechan bursts out of the basement immediately to join him. Ten assumes the little bastard had been waiting on the stairs with his ear pressed to the door the whole time, trying to listen in.

“How the hell are you hand-holding and babe-calling level friends with Johnny fucking Suh, Ten?” Hendery starts.

“Hand holding? Ten called him babe?” Haechan sounds simultaneously upset and eager, as if even his self-preservation instincts can’t suppress his own nosiness.

“Louis, sic him,” Ten commands and Louis hops down from a shelf to curl up in the armchair next to the front door. A traitorous deserter. See if Ten buys him any more fancy new toys. 

“Ten, are you under some kind of weird demon-witch mojo? Is that why?” Hendery does look concerned. “Maybe I should call Kun.”

“Kun’s still in China,” Haechan tells him. “Oh my god, Kun’s in China and Ten is brainwashed, what do we do?!”

“You calm the fuck down is what you do, you bastards. He really is an old friend.” Ten opens his wallet and slips out the copy of their prom photo that he has stowed behind his ID, under the picture of his parents and sister. “See? Old friends, pre- the cross-blood thing friends.”

“Boyfriends!” Again, Haechan sounds a horrible combination of alarmed and somewhat delighted.

“No! Not boyfriends!”

“So, I do have a chance then?”

“So you—what? Haechan!”

“You can’t blame me from shooting my shot, hot stuff,” his apprentice gives him a greasy wink. He’s been doing this for weeks, popping bad pick-up lines and cringy compliments at inappropriate moments. Ten might have blushed the first few times, but he is rapidly growing immune. 

“Okay, back to the basement with you. I think it’s time for you to try that mix again and leave me the fuck alone. No, that was not an invitation to come in for a hug, scram!” Ten does return the hug for a little bit, just in case Haechan is still rattled, before he pushes him away. His apprentice is horrible and Ten doesn’t deserve this treatment.

***

With all the time Ten needs to spend training Haechan instead of seeing clients, it doesn’t take long for the studio’s profit margins to start shrinking dangerously. If it comes down to it, Ten can probably get Kun to send some cash to make sure the building’s rent gets paid, but he’d rather not let it get to that point.

When a young witch walks into the shop on a Wednesday evening, Ten just hopes he’s here for something magic, because another talisman commission would be just the thing to meet his monthly budget. The witch gives the studio a quick scan but must miss Ten from where he’s sitting in the tattoo booth, wiping down the bench. He starts peering at the work on the walls with wide eyes. Ten can bet he’s a tattoo virgin, but he looks old enough to ink, so that shouldn’t be a problem.

“Welcome, what can I help you with?” Ten greets with as much friendly enthusiasm as he can muster, heading over to the counter.

It might have been a little too much enthusiasm, as the poor kid startles and stumbles over his own feet when Ten stands up. Whoops. That shows Ten for being too eager, now he’ll have scared the witch away.

But this witch just shakes the surprise off and arranges his features into a scowl that makes him look slightly constipated. He approaches the counter. “Where is he?” he demands.

“Um?” Ten blinks a few times, mentally shifting gears. “I’m afraid Hendery isn’t working today.” In truth, he had only ducked out for a dinner break, but if this kid has beef with his piercer, Ten is not going to let that on. “I could relay a message, if you’re trying to reach him?”

“No, not—where is Haechan? I know he’s here.”

Ten drops all pretense of a customer service demeanor. “And who the hell is asking?”

“Mark!” Haechan bursts out of the basement where he is supposed to be tattooing an orange and rushes forward like he’s intending to lunge at the witch. Ten isn’t sure if he’s going for a hug or a tackle, but there is no way he’s taking the risk of a brawl on his studio floor, so he intercepts his apprentice with an arm around his waist and redirects him to the tattoo bench with a rough spin.

He fixes Haechan with a stern glare. “Sit, boy.” He then directs the glare to their visitor. “You’re a friend of my apprentice then?”

“Yeah,” Mark says, at the same time as Haechan says, “He’s my rival.”

Ten presses down on Haechan’s shoulder to make sure he stays put. “What the hell do you mean, rival, who the hell calls someone their rival?”

“Don’t be like that, Hyuck, come on…” Mark seems ashamed on Haechan’s behalf.

“Whatever, Mark. Come to gloat, have you?”

Ten looks back at Mark, evaluating him with a new eye. “So, is this the guy that dared you to summon Johnny?”

“What?!” Mark’s voice cracks, but he seems too offended to be embarrassed about it. “I did no such thing. What I told him was that he should under no circumstances even think about trying a ritual like that. Even I wouldn’t have been able to do it right, and I’ve had a lot more practice and training than he has.”

Ten knows Haechan well enough by this point to understand Haechan would definitely take a statement like that as a dare. Haechan bristles and Ten tightens his grip on his shoulder to keep him in his seat.

“I don’t need a fancy diploma to be able to pull off a complex summon, asshole!” Haechan settles for shouting instead.

“Okay, that’s enough yelling there, Haechannie. We’ve already established that it was super dumb for you to try to summon Johnny, so I’m not going to beat a dead horse by telling you that your friend was completely right. You know you fucked up, and you can’t blame anyone else for that. Okay?”

Haechan doesn’t reply for several seconds, as if to convey his outrage. Brat.

“Okay, fine,” he finally spits.

“Haechannie, I’m just here because I was worried,” Mark cuts in. “For all I knew you were dead! Your apartment was a mess and you’d left your phone there too. I’ve been trying to find you for weeks. Thank goodness Yuta finally tracked you down here, or I don’t know what I would have done.”

“You could have just asked Kun where I was, he sent me here.”

“Professor Qian? How was I supposed to know that he knew where you were? Last time you mentioned him you called him a ‘stuck up crusty geezer,’ and I thought you had nothing to do with the academy anymore.”

“While that’s definitely an accurate description of Kun, who is Yuta? Another friend? I don’t remember having a Yuta in my books recently.” Ten does not like the idea that people have been poking around his studio without his knowledge.

“That’s Mark’s pet demon,” Haechan snorts derisively.

“He’s not a pet!”

“But he is a demon? Two demon blood have managed to sense Haechan through all my wards? Goddess, I must be losing my touch.” Ten’s not sure where he could have gone wrong, but he mentally plans to video call Tern soon and ask her to take a look at his setup. She’s had her own studio in L.A. for nearly eight years now, and the two of them occasionally consult each other on tricky designs.

Haechan tenses up under Ten’s palm. He must be scared at the prospect of the failing wards.

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that, Yuta couldn’t get a bead on Haechan until he left the building, after all,” Mark assures him.

Ten glances down at his apprentice, who avoids his gaze. Haechan’s ears are red. Ten digs his nails into his shoulder.

“Until he left the building, huh? That’s odd. Why would a witch running from one of the most notorious demon-blood in our time leave the one place he would be safe from him? After being warned multiple times not to leave? After the guy who graciously took him in made a deal with that same demon to assure his safety, so long as he stayed inside? Would anyone really be so stupid?”

“Um, maybe I should come back later…” Mark begins to inch towards the door

“No, wait, Mark!” Haechan tries to wiggle out of Ten’s grasp, but Ten has got an iron grip on him by now.

“Yes, I think it would be best if you left now, Mark. Come back later, but Haechan and I need to have a chat. I didn’t think he could possibly do anything dumber than trying to summon Johnny Suh, but I seem to have underestimated him.”

Mark slips out the door right as Haechan explodes.

“I just needed some air, Ten! It was only for a couple minutes every few weeks, and I was only going to the roof. You know it’s been hard being cooped up for so long, and I was being careful!”

“You weren’t being careful enough, clearly!”

“Ten, please!” Ten loosens his grip when he hears the start of tears in Haechan’s voice. “I know it was a mistake the first time, but now that Johnny’s found me, I know that chances are likely I won’t make it out of this. Everyone says he’s a silver-tongue, and you’re his friend, and you don’t even like me; I know it won’t be long before he finds a way around whatever deal he made with you. If I’m going to die, I don’t want it to be without having felt fresh air or moonlight on my skin in months. I’m grateful for everything you’ve done, everything you’re doing for me,” and here the tears start running down his cheeks, “and I know you think I’m stupid, but I don’t want to die stuck in here, Ten.”

“Hey!” Ten starts, then softens his tone and stoops down next to Haechan. “Hey. Listen to me. I like you just fine, Donghyuck, even though you drive me up a wall sometimes. I know you’re not stupid, either—you’ve learned so much about inscription, so quickly, I can’t doubt your intelligence. Here, hold on a second for me.” Ten doesn’t have any more appointments scheduled for the day and Hendery’s already left. He flips the studio’s sign to closed, flicks the lights off and locks the front door, then ushers his apprentice up the staircase in the backroom to his apartment.

Under normal circumstances he would be embarrassed to have company. The apartment itself is tiny and cluttered with cat toys and spilled litter. His living/dining room is dominated by Louis’s massive cat condo and litter boxes, leaving only a corner for Ten’s couch and coffee table. The kitchen is hardly bigger than his closet. His bedroom is also a complete mess at the moment, but he knows it won’t make any difference if he shuts the door. Haechan will certainly snoop regardless, and Louis has a noisy vendetta against closed doors.

Ten steers Haechan to the couch and dumps a throw blanket in his lap. “I’m going to make us some tea, and then we’ll talk.”

Kun would be aghast at how little time he gives the tea to steep, but Ten wants to give Haechan enough time to compose himself, but not enough time to spiral. It’s a delicate balance, and if the chamomile pays the price for that, so be it. When he sweeps back into the living room with two mismatched cups and a teapot balanced on a tray, Haechan appears to have used the time well. He’s wrapped the throw blanket around his shoulders and is clutching one of the couch cushions to his chest. Thankfully, he’s stopped crying, but his face is a little blotchy. Ten sets the tray down on the coffee table and fetches a box of tissues to set beside it. He waits for Haechan to blow his nose and pick up his cup.

“I’m only going to say this once, so you better listen up,” Ten starts off with a hard look, but softens when he sees Haechan tense and lower his teacup. Whoops. “Okay, that’s a lie, I’ll repeat it if you need me to. But for the record, I hate feelings talks. Anyway, here goes. I don’t hate you. I get very crabby when things don’t go according to plan or when other people make me do things, so I can’t say I’ve been thrilled by the situation at large, but I don’t have a problem with you. You remind me a lot of Johnny when he was your age, ironically. Precocious witch gets screwed over by a summoning they never should have attempted? Yeah. I wasn’t able to save Johnny, so you better believe I’m going to do better this time and get you out of this, Haechan.”

Haechan sets his teacup down and opens his mouth, but Ten can recognize the imminent snark by the gleam in his eye and slaps his palm over Haechan’s lips.

“I’m trying to power through this, so please hold all questions or comments until the end.” He gets licked for his efforts, but when he pulls his hand away to wipe it off on Haechan’s cheek, he doesn’t get interrupted. “Johnny’s another thing I need to talk about. I know I told you a bit about our history—we met in high school and were inseparable up until… you know. But I hadn’t seen him in four years when he showed up the other week, do you realize that? Not since he became a cross-blood. I never expected to see him again, honestly, and I won’t say I haven’t been enjoying his company, but I haven’t forgotten what he is now. I’d like to believe he hasn’t changed much beyond developing a taste for souls and the ability to use demon magic, but I know that I don’t truly know who he is anymore.” He takes a deep breath and picks up his own teacup to take a sip. Yup, that is definitely under steeped.

“Johnny was my whole world when I was younger, we were inseparable. I moved around a lot as kid—that’s how I met Kun, when I was in Boston for middle school. When I met Johnny in high school, after my family had moved to Chicago, it was like I’d met my soulmate. We just got each other like no one else did, you know? Stuck to each other like glue from that point on. He dropped out of the Chicago academy after only a few months and we started travelling all over the country together. He was trying to be the first one to devise a cure for spellscourge. He was compassionate like that, and way too ambitious for his own good. I kept him in check a little, but I was also dumb back then. I loved him. He was a whole bunch of my firsts, you know?”

Haechan chuckles. “I guess I might have a little in common with you, then.”

“What, he was your first summon?” Ten arches an eyebrow.

“Well… yeah, but like, first time, too.”

Ten’s blood runs cold. “First time—did he…”

“He didn’t take anything that I wasn’t offering. Virginity was the best thing I had available to lure him in anyways, short of presenting my soul on a silver platter. I had a good enough understanding of my own abilities to know it would take a sacrifice like that to even draw his attention. And hey, that part was a good time! It’s true what they say about demons, you know,” Haechan wiggles his eyebrows for effect.

“No, that’s just Johnny’s--” Ten flushes as he realizes what he’s saying. He hurries on to prevent Haechan from capitalizing on the mistake. “I mean, no, we are not talking about that anymore, nope. I just meant to say that time has passed, I like seeing Johnny, but I don’t trust him anymore, and I’m going to keep you safe. Also, you’re staying up here with me from now on so you can open the windows for your fresh air, and I can make sure you don’t do anything stupid, like try to go outside again. Capisce?”

Haechan tosses his couch cushion on the floor and dives in for a hug. Ten knows what to expect by now, so he only cringes a little when Haechan presses his snotty nose into his neck. He rubs his apprentice’s back soothingly.

“I might literally combust if I have to talk more about this, but you’re safe with me, Donghyuck. I promise.”

***

Things change after that point. Ten has to grow accustomed to sharing his living space with more than just Louis, for one thing. Haechan’s passion for hugs also translates into a taste for cuddling, and after four years only snuggling his cat, Ten surprises himself by reverting to the more tactile tendencies of his own youth. Haechan can also cook, which shocks Ten, but he is happy to take advantage. Getting takeout for two for the last few months has not helped his budget woes. He trades his Netflix password for home cooked meals and decides that the new roommate situation isn’t too bad.

Ten also has to grow accustomed to his apprentice getting frequent visits from his best friend/rival. Mark stops by every other day, and while Ten is pleased to see Haechan perk up at seeing his friend, Haechan’s competitive nature makes lessons more difficult with Mark around. Ten doesn’t kick Mark out entirely. He can see Mark being useful down the line; he’s clearly an unusually powerful summoner to hold a demon’s leash at his age, which could be helpful in getting Haechan out of the city. Haechan is also going to need someone to practice a tattoo talisman on soon, and Ten is counting on Mark taking that bullet. Also, Haechan would be sad if he kicked Mark out for good. Ten does limit his visits to not overlap with Haechan’s training, which clearly disappoints Mark, but Ten didn’t sign up for a second apprentice and he’s not obligated to give out free lessons.

Johnny pays another visit a few days after Haechan moves into the apartment and settles into one of the waiting area armchairs with his signature, infuriating, grace.

“How the hell do you always manage to time your visits when I don’t have any appointments?” Ten tosses his pencil aside, leaving a sketch to be finished later. Haechan is upstairs with Mark, and Hendery is off today, so Johnny’s timing is pretty much perfect.

“Just lucky, I guess. Finally started locking your boy inside, Tennie? It figures you would change things up right before I could make my move. I thought I’d figured out his pattern, but it just looks like you shortened his reigns.” Louis hops up onto the arm of Johnny’s chair, loudly demanding attention, which Johnny gives in the form of scratches behind his left year. Four years and a demonic transformation, and he still remembers Louis’s favorite spots.

“Sorry to disappoint, honey, but I continue to save Haechannie from his own stupidity.”

“For now. How come you haven’t invited me up to your room yet, Tennie?”

“I think we’d need to establish a bit more trust for something like that, babe. Why, you jealous?”

“Mm, maybe a little. Jealous of you getting to share a bed with that hot piece of ass, sure.”

“Haechan sleeps on the couch! …Most nights. It’s not like that. Also, stop objectifying my apprentice. I heard what you did to him, you know.”

“What I did to him? You make it sound so horrible, Tennie, but I know you know better than that. What I did was rock his little virgin world. It was a good time on both sides.”

Ten brushes his hair off his forehead and resolutely does not think about Haechan and Johnny having a “good time” together. “If it was so good, then why the hell are you after his blood?”

“You’ve always known me to be proud, Tennie, and since becoming a cross-blood, I have to say that sense of pride has only gotten stronger. He tried to bind me, Tennie. I can’t abide that.”

Haechan tried to bind the notorious Johnny Suh to his service, during his first ever summoning? “Of course he did. That idiot. But, so what? Clearly he failed.”

“The attempt was enough to… look, it’s hard to explain what it’s like having a demon inside you, being part demon. The urges, the hunger… I’ve gotten better at tapping it down over the years, but sometimes it takes over. My pride was provoked, and that was enough. And he gave me the perfect opening.

“It was clear he’d practiced a lot but didn’t account for being… ah… cock-dumb is probably the most accurate way to put it. Managed to flub things up and drop his own true name into the mix, and he was, unsurprisingly, wrong about mine. So many people assume it’s just John, it’s strange. I played along until the part where I would have had to swear loyalty in an actual binding, and instead swore that I would spill his blood and devour his soul, you know how it goes. He ran, and I didn’t think he would get far, but… somehow, he managed to make his way to you. Small world, right?”

“Johnny… can’t you just drop it? Let him go? You know he’ll never try to pull something like that on you again.” Nothing would make Ten happier than for Johnny to bury this hatchet. He knows Johnny and Haechan would get along if it wasn’t for Johnny’s stupid vendetta.

“I wish I could, but I can’t, babe. I swore, after all, and backtracking on that would be a severe reputational hit. Image is everything in my line of work, and I can’t afford to look weak.”

Ten doesn’t know what he can possible say to that. It’s just another reminder that this isn’t the Johnny he knows and remembers. When it becomes clear Ten doesn’t intend to reply, Johnny continues.

“I am sorry to put you in this position, Ten. I know the longer Donghyuck stays here, the fonder you’re going to get of him. But I’m going to win in the end. Wouldn’t it be best to get it over with sooner rather than later?”

“If your pride has gotten worse over the years, then so has my stubbornness,” Ten snaps, suddenly furious. “Mark my words, Johnny Suh, the only way you’ll be able to get Haechan is over my dead body.”

Johnny looks taken aback, then shakes his head and sighs. “So it’s come to this, has it? If someone had told me at twenty that I’d be arguing with my ex-boyfriend over another man five years down the line, I never would have believed them.”

Ten is almost startled out of his anger. “ _That’s_ the part you wouldn’t believe? And I thought we didn’t put labels on things back then!”

“Only because _you_ didn’t want labels, Ten. I would have married you at eighteen if you would have agreed. I loved you more than anything.”

Ten just gapes at him. Why is he bringing this up now?

Johnny reaches out to clasp his hands and presses on. “I still do love you, Tennie. Even though you ran away. I know why you did, and I’d tried to stay away to respect that, but now that we’ve reconnected… I want you back, Ten.”

“If you love me, then you’ll leave Haechan alone.” His mind is racing with everything else he could say, should say, but that’s the most pressing point. He has nothing further to tell the man who wants to kill Haechan. Even if he loved him too.

Johnny releases his grip on Ten’s hands. “I told you. I can’t.”

Ten lets the refusal sink in, then chooses his own words carefully. “I can’t tell you to get out, on the basis of our standing deal. But if you truly do value our relationship, and our history, please respect that I don’t want to see you right now.”

“I… alright, Ten. I’ll see you around.” Johnny goes in to kiss his cheek, but Ten jerks his head away. His heartrate spikes with a sudden flash of fear. Haechan may have some form of protection through the deal, but Ten has no such safeguard should he push Johnny too far. He forces himself to face the demon-witch, but sees no anger in his eyes, only sorrow. “I’ll see you around, Ten,” Johnny repeats, then slips out the door.

Ten sinks into his chair as Johnny walks down the street and vanishes from sight. He feels a burning in his chest but refuses to cry. He goes about the rest the evening like an automaton, handling a walk-in consultation and two mundie tattoo appointments without thinking about it.

By the time he closes up for the night and heads upstairs, Mark has already left, and Ten joins Haechan on his bed. He’d been watching Netflix but turns it off when Ten curls up beside him. Without Ten’s permission, his tears start to fall. Haechan just wraps his arms around him, holding him like Ten has held him through his panics in the past. When his tears stop, Haechan doesn’t ask. He just kisses Ten on the forehead, flicks off the lights, and holds him for the rest of the night.

***

After that, Ten ramps up the preparations for Haechan’s talisman. He gives up on some of the lessons he’d been planning that aren’t needed in making the anti-Johnny design, although he makes it clear to his apprentice that he expects him to study up on the rest under another master when he does relocate.

The escape plan is coming together, but it’s still a work in progress. Mark and Yuta are planning distractions that will divert Johnny’s attention when Haechan leaves the city itself. His final destination is still in the air. Ten insists he go to a city where there are no inscription masters with a connection to him, but given the influence of the Leechaiyapornkul family in the field, that is a difficult criteria to meet. They’re relying on Kun’s connections to make the choice, but Ten insists that Haechan and Kun keep the decision between themselves. He doesn’t want to know, just in case. He’s not sure if he’s more worried that Johnny might manage to sway him down the line, or that he himself will be too compelled to visit Haechan if he knows where to find him, and risk blowing his cover.

The original apprenticeship plan had been for Haechan to design and tattoo the talisman himself, but Ten no longer has reservations about getting his own hands dirty. The sooner Haechan gets his talisman, the safer he’ll be. And the unique nature of the talisman means that even Ten is scratching his head at some of the design elements. No one has ever had to protect against a demon-witch, after all.

They draft and discard design after design, before they produce promising ones—a pair of two talismans. Ten arranges to “test” them by putting up paper versions of the talismans on the studio walls. He calls Kun first to make sure such an action wouldn’t negate his earlier deal with Johnny. The oath witch gives him the green light; trying to prevent someone from entering is not the same as not allowing them to stay in a space, is his verdict. Ten thanks the Goddess he managed to stay in touch with the magic equivalent of a lawyer all these years. He’ll never mock Kun about the usefulness of his field ever again.

In order to put the experimental talismans up, he does have to remove a few of his more standard wards on the studio. Having too many active would make the studio light up like a beacon of magical energy, which would serve to negate the purpose of most of the other charms. Ten only gets away with having so many wards on the basement by virtue of it being blanketed by the overarching wards on the studio.

It’s the flood and fire protection wards that go after much deliberation. Ten’s paranoia makes him bolster the insurance on the building in the interim, though the chances of either occurring are slim. Winter has set in over the city, after all.

Test talismans in place, Ten waits for Johnny to return to see if he’ll be able to cross the threshold. Hendery hooks him up with an enchanted curved barbell for his rook piercing that will grow warm in the presence of a demon-blood, so he’ll be sure not to miss him. But their demon-witch target has made himself scarce. Weeks pass and Ten wonders if Johnny took his request at their last meeting as a permanent goodbye. His chest aches at the thought.

In the interim, Mark gets his first tattoo and talisman in one, a tidy fae antidetection of Haechan’s own design. He doesn’t cry, so Haechan loses $10 on that bet. Ten collects with a friendly tousle of Mark’s hair, but he just ends up buying them both takeout with the cash so Haechan will stop pouting.

Job well done, Ten and Haechan finalize plans on the anti-Johnny project. It will be three pieces, a large antidetection piece on one thigh and a ward on the other, with a smaller piece on his chest to bind them together to Haechan’s magic. They decide to wait a little longer to see if Johnny stops by to test the designs, but they also set a date to forge ahead if by then demon-witch hasn’t shown his face.

***

It’s another late night in the studio for Ten. Haechan is in the basement, practicing portions of the talismans he’ll be tattooing into his legs in a few days. Ten will need to do the third piece for him, since he won’t be able to tattoo his own sternum, but Ten doesn’t feel bad about directly opposing Johnny anymore.

His last client of the evening is just coming in for a consultation, so Ten’s cleaned up most of his tools already. He hopes it’ll be a fast one. The closer they get to the end of Haechan’s project, the more time he wants to spend with his apprentice. He’ll be lonely when he’s gone. He’s thought of getting another roommate afterwards, but it won’t be the same. It won’t be Haechan, with his persistent embraces, and his clever jokes, and his warm laugh, and his honey skin…

Ten needs to get a grip.

The client arrives before Ten can think himself any further down that hole, and Ten is surprised to sense some magic about him. He’s not a face Ten is familiar with, though, and he came for a mundane tattoo, so Ten decides to ignore it. Louis gets hissy when Ten knocks him off the counter to make room to work, so Ten scoops him up and dumps him in the basement to bother Haechan.

“So, what sort of design were you considering?” He asks, drawing open his sketch book and gesturing for the man to pull one of the armchairs closer.

The client is a burly white guy pushing forty, and Ten has a feeling that his art style might not be what this man has in mind, but he tries not to judge a book by its cover.

The man sighs as he sits in a way that suggests aging joints and bones. “I’m actually hoping you’ll be able to do a portrait for me. I’m thinking a tattoo of my daughter’s face on my bicep would be real nice. Here, I’ll show you a picture.” He pulls a locket out from under his shirt.

Ten stifles a sigh. Did this man even bother looking at his portfolio before scheduling an appointment? “I’m sorry, but I don’t do any portraiture. I can recommend a couple other local artists if you’d like, but as you can see from the work I display, most of my pieces are abstract in nature.”

He expects the man to leave at that point, but he’s given him too much credit. “Aw, really? C’mon, I heard really good stuff about your work, and she’s so cute I know you’ll change your mind if you saw those baby blues. Here, take a look.” He doesn’t make any move to stand up, instead unclasping the locket necklace and holding it out for Ten to take.

Ten decides to humor him. Maybe if he tells the man how ugly his child is, he’ll just leave. He brings the locket up to his face and thumbs the catch at the top.

It’s a mistake. Blue powder bursts out as the locket springs open and Ten chokes as he inhales it. He drops the necklace, trying to reach for his shield charm, but his movements are sluggish and clumsy, and he can’t get his hand into the pocket. The man stands with ease, slipping his own hands into Ten’s pockets and confiscating the charm. He coolly examines it as Ten struggles to stand.

“Nice trinket. Maybe if you’d been faster on the draw.” The man flicks the lights in the studio off and presses Ten firmly into his chair, then pulls a spool of braided chord out of his pocket, which he starts looping around Ten’s chest.

“Why,” Ten chokes out. His vision is going fuzzy and he can’t feel his lips. The chord tightens, pinning his arms to his side and his torso to the back of his chair. He can’t even struggle.

“Ain’t natural to consort with demons. Your boyfriend’s been messing with my people, you know.” The man looks up from where he’s knelt to tie Ten’s ankles to the legs of the chair. He jerks one of his sleeves up and flashes a broken pentagram tattooed into his forearm. The symbol of the Contra hunter clan. “Awfully slippery, that one, but this’ll bring him running. Get us rid of that abomination and a demon fucker all in one. Tidy.”

Ten completely secured to the chair, the hunter rises and pulls a small flask from his jacket’s inner pocket. Ten can smell it as soon as he pops the lid open; the acrid stench of spelled cypran oil. A rare reagent, highly flammable, and completely illegal in most North American Communities.

“Please, stop,” Ten forces out through numb lips, but the hunter ignores him. He sprinkles the accelerant over the walls and furniture of the studio, then tosses the empty flask to the side and strikes a match.

“Enjoy hell,” is all the hunter says as he lets the match fall and strides out the front door. The bell on the doorframe jingles as the flames catch first on Ten’s portfolio wall, and then rapidly spread.

The haze clouding Ten’s mind might almost be a kindness, preventing him from registering the pain of the smoke that soon fills his throat. Even as the flames begin to lick at his ankles, all that consumes his thoughts are prayers that wards on the basement will hold and keep Haechan and Louis safe. He fades in and out of awareness.

“Ten!” he hears Haechan cry and he stirs. He tries to speak, but he can’t make a sound. He can’t see a thing. “Ten, no!” He hears again, and the chair he’s tied to is jerked somewhere else. He distantly feels something tugging at his bindings.

“Haechannie,” he manages to croak.

“Tennie! Donghyuck, get him out of there, bring him to me!” He hears another familiar voice from much farther away, muffled. It’s familiar… Johnny! Johnny came to save him?

Wait.

The bindings on his chest and arms go slack and Ten flails his hands out weakly. He brushes against what he assumes to be Haechan’s arm and grabs tight. “Haechannie run, run back to the basement. I need to keep you safe.” His voice is so raspy he can hardly hear himself. “Don’t let him get you, run.”

“Donghyuck, hurry up!” Johnny shouts. “I can shadowwalk him to a healer once you get him to me, but you need to hurry!”

Haechan curses and shakes off Ten’s grasp. Ten can feel the chords restraining his legs tighten, and he screams at the biting pain it provokes. He must have extensive burns.

“Sorry! I’m sorry!” Haechan’s voice is also getting raspy. Another jerk at the chords on Ten’s other leg and the bindings are gone. He’s lifted up by two arms tucked under his armpits and he moans in pain as his legs drag against the floor. “I’m sorry! Hang in there, you’ll be safe soon,” Haechan tries to assure him, then nearly drops him as he’s hit by a coughing fit.

“No,” Ten groans, “basement.”

He’s ignored as Haechan recovers and continues to drag him through the burning room. He hears a jingle and a crash as Haechan pushes open the front door and tumbles to the sidewalk in a heap. Ten lands mostly on top of him and immediately latches on. His eyes sting too much to open but he doesn’t need to see.

“Don’t you dare hurt him, Johnny,” he rasps. “I won’t let you have him.”

“Ten, please,” Johnny begs from somewhere to his left. “I need to get you to a healer. You need to let go of him, I can’t shadowwalk with both of you.”

“No!” Ten shouts. He can feel hands on his, trying to get him to loosen his grasp, and he responds by shifting from clinging to Haechan’s shoulders to threading his arms around his chest and pulling him closer.

“I won’t hurt him! I just want to help you!” Johnny continues to plead.

“Swear it to Kun. I won’t let go until you swear it to Kun!” Ten tries to open his eyes again, but they refuse to focus. Kun will know what to make him say. Demons are too sneaky. He needs Kun.

“I don’t—we don’t have any time for that, Tennie, I can feel you fading. Please, just take my hand!”

“Ten, you have to—” Haechan tries to wiggle free from his embrace, but Ten isn’t having it. He puts all his remaining energy into locking his arms tightly.

“No! I won’t let you!”

“Fine!” Johnny shouts. Ten thinks he might be crying. “I’ll swear any oaths you see fit, I’ll promise anything! I won’t harm you, Lee Donghyuck, I swear it on my own name. I, Seo Youngho, bind myself to you, to your service, body and soul. Please accept my vow.”

“I accept your vow, Seo Youngho,” Haechan recites after a moment’s pause. “The first service I require is that you save him.”

The hair on Ten’s neck stands on end as he feels the magic locks into place. Ten’s never borne witness to such a powerful ritual before. His ears ring, but he’s not sure if it’s the magic, or the fact that he’s about to pass out. He thinks he might hear sirens in the distance.

This time when Johnny grasps at his wrists, he lets go. He’s pulled into Johnny’s strong and steady arms like a damsel, held bridal style. Johnny murmurs something in a language Ten doesn’t know and he feels like the bottom of his stomach drops out as he’s suddenly engulphed in chilly darkness. He clutches at Johnny’s lapels with as much strength as he can muster, but his hands go numb and his grip loosens involuntarily. He can’t breathe.

The otherworldly sensation passes after what may have been a moment or an age, and he can once again inhale.

“John?” He hears an unfamiliar voice call out. “What—”

And that’s when Ten finally passes out.

***

He comes to in an unfamiliar room with wood panel walls and a dark plush carpet. Heavy curtains are drawn over a window across from the bed he’s lying on. It’s quite a large bed. He can’t see any other furniture from his angle. He tries to get up to peer outside, but he can’t gather the strength to even sit upright. At least there’s no pain.

“Oh, you’re awake!” a soft voice says, and a stranger’s face pops into his field of vision. He has silver hair and huge eyes. Based on his bone structure, Ten assumes he must be at least part-fae. “You shouldn’t strain yourself. I was able to heal your injuries, but it took a lot of energy and it will take much rest for you to replenish it.”

“Where… am I?” Ten’s voice is a croak. The man disappears from view for a moment, then reappears with a glass of water. He props Ten up with a few pillows before helping him to drink.

“You’re in my home. Still in Boston, don’t worry. My name is Taeyong, I’m a shaman—Johnny brought you to me for healing. And before you ask, Johnny is out handling that witchling… uh, Haechan. He’ll return.”

“Handling?” Braced by the support of the additional pillows, Ten tries again to sit up all the way, panic blossoming in his chest. Taeyong tsks and presses him back down with gentle but firm hands. Ten musters as much resistance as a paper doll.

“Making sure he sees a doctor. I had my hands full with your healing, but that one inhaled too much smoke to go without treatment.” Taeyong shakes his head. “He first made Johnny bring him here to fret over you, but my partners were able to kick him out while I was occupied with your care. He kept hacking up black phlegm, and his fussing was alarming the neighbors.”

“I… thank you for your help. Will they… be back soon?” Ten’s voice is growing less croaky, at least.

“They should be,” a new voice interjects. “That little bogspawn made it clear that he’d be back as soon as he got treated, and there’s not much Johnny can do to slow him down now that he’s shackled.” Ten can angle his head just enough to face the doorway, where an eerily handsome man leans against the doorframe. Ten’s rook barbell starts to pulse with warmth. A demon, then. Surely Johnny wouldn’t go through so much trouble to save him just to dump him back into danger?

The demon must notice him tense up, because he chuckles. “Don’t worry, I’m a friend of Johnny’s. I’m Jaehyun, Taeyong’s husband.”

“Shackled is a strong word coming from someone who’s also bound, dearest,” Taeyong says. Ten thinks he might be scolding his husband, but his tone is so mild it’s hard to tell. Wait—

“You bound a demon?” Ten blurts out incredulously. He didn’t know shamans could do that. Not that he’s ever met one. There are very few of them, and he’s always heard that they tend to keep to themselves.

Taeyong giggles. The sound is like wind chimes in a light breeze. “No, our partner Doyoung did. You’ll meet him later, I’m sure. Jaehyunnie is only bound to me through the confines of legal matrimony.”

“You’re my ball and chain, baby,” Jaehyun enters the room with a wink and smacks a kiss to Taeyong’s cheek.

Ten feels very much like an intruder. He can’t even gather the energy to turn his head away and give them space to be all… that.

He clears his throat to remind them that he’s trapped right there. “So, a demon, a shaman, and a witch getting hitched and shacking up together in Boston? Sounds kind of like a joke, or a sitcom.”

“I’m an incubus too, which I think would make it funnier.” Jaehyun has his arms wrapped around Taeyong’s waist but is thankfully not going in for another smooch. “But it works for us. Weird as it might seem to others.”

“Ah, I didn’t mean to sound judgmental. Sorry for being rude. I’m just… a little rattled.”

“Of course, you must want to rest some more.” Taeyong sets about pulling away the extra pillows and lowering him back to lying flat. He smooths down Ten’s blanket. “We’ll leave you be.”

“Wait,” Ten calls before they can walk away. “Uh, Jaehyun—are you going to help Johnny get out of the binding?” Ten doesn’t know what answer he hopes to hear. Certainly, Haechan is best protected while holding the demon-witch’s reins, but they could work out another alternative now that they have time. Ten doesn’t want Johnny to be trapped in an arrangement he hates.

“No,” Jaehyun answers bluntly. “Binding lasts until the witch dies, it can’t be broken. And I’m not about to shank your bratty apprentice, put that glare away and relax. For all that it absolutely infuriates me to see someone of Johnny Suh’s caliber brought to heel by such an upstart, it might be for the best.”

“How do you figure that?” Johnny had been so enraged by the idea of being bound that he’d tried to kill Haechan for even attempting it. Ten can’t imagine that he’s a happy camper right now.

“Being bound isn’t always bad, there are definite perks for the demon involved. I’m sure you know how demons typically need to feed—or maybe you don’t, I have no idea what they’re teaching witches these days.”

“I’m not a witch…”

“So, I guess you probably don’t. The three s’s, souls, sex, or sanguine? Whatever, the mnemonic is probably dated. Demons gotta eat, and that’s what they feast on. But when demons are bound, they no longer need these as energy sources. They can still indulge if they want, but their witch’s magic is all they actually need to live.

“It’s particularly good for Johnny, whose demonic appetite has always been… abundant. We assume it’s because of the whole cross-blood thing, but it’s not like there’s another demon-witch around to confirm that hypothesis. Now he can relax a little.”

“Wow… that does sound like a perk.” Ten wonders if that hunger is why Johnny developed such a ruthless reputation so quickly.

“Yeah. It’ll be good for him, so long as his witch doesn’t drive him up a wall. I’ve only met him once and I know I’d be ready to punt the brat off a ledge if I were in his shoes.”

Taeyong clucks his tongue. “Be nice, Jaehyunnie. Haechan just underwent a very stressful experience, I’m sure he’ll be less… ornery when he has a chance to calm down.”

Jaehyun rolls his eyes. “Whatever. Maybe they’ll fuck again, and it’ll mellow the witchling out a bit.”

Ten inhales a little too sharply at that, and between his sore throat and his weak lungs, he manages to work himself into a painful coughing fit. Taeyong makes soothing sounds and rubs at his chest, and it settles Ten down after one last final agonizing hack. Ten glares at Jaehyun.

“Sorry,” the demon says, looking completely unrepentant.

“I- you- I’m sure sleeping together is the farthest thing from their minds! Don’t joke about something like that,” Ten berates once he’s caught his breath.

Jaehyun snorts. “I can definitely assure you that it isn’t. Incubus, remember? There’s plenty of sexual attraction on both sides of that equation. Gets even more fun if you’re a variable in that formula too, if you get what I’m saying.”

“Jaehyunnie, you’re stressing him out. This is not good conversation for a recovering patient,” Taeyong reprimands. Ten is glad the shaman spoke up to defend him, because he is speechless. His ears are burning and it’s not the jewelry’s fault this time. Taeyong shoos his husband out the room but instead of leaving Ten to his misery and embarrassment, he takes a perch on the edge of the bed.

“I’ll let you rest in a moment, I promise, I just… want to impart a little advice. Jaehyunnie isn’t the only one who can sense types of emotional energy, you know. I know you have feelings for those boys that you’re struggling with, and I thought maybe I could set your mind at ease.

“Jaehyun is right, there’s definitely some tension and attraction between those two. But more importantly, they both care for you dearly. I can tell you return the affections, in your own way, and have been beating yourself up over it. I may be overstepping, but I remember how I felt when I was in a similar situation, when Jaehyun and Doyoung came into my life. It was scary, but… we worked it out, and I’m happier with both of them than I’d ever imagined.

“You don’t have to follow that path if you don’t want to. It’s not for everybody. I just like to remind people that sometimes, you don’t actually have to choose.”

With that, Taeyong smooths down Ten’s hair and leaves the room. Ten falls asleep as soon as the light flicks off, his body too exhausted to let his mind consider Taeyong’s words.

***

When Ten wakes again, he has much more energy. Which is good, because he needs to use it immediately to free himself from the overenthusiastic embrace of his apprentice.

“Let him breathe, Haechan! He just woke up!” He can hear Johnny calling from outside the room.

“No!” Haechan snaps, though he does move back enough for Ten to escape. Ten takes advantage of the opening to sit up and look around. The curtains on the window are drawn open, spilling sunlight into the room. From the look of the quiet street of houses outside, it seems like they’re somewhere in the suburbs. Ten isn’t sure where he’d expected Jaehyun and Taeyong to be living, but this wasn’t it.

Haechan has pulled back a little from where he had initially tackled Ten awake, but he’s still practically straddling him, puppy dog eyes in full effect. Ten sighs and pats the space to his left, laying back down. “Just don’t press down on my chest too hard, I’m excited to have full breathing capacity back.”

Haechan takes the invitation and snuggles into Ten’s side, wrapping his arm around his waist and pressing his face into his shoulder. “I’m glad you’re okay, Tennie,” he mumbles. “I was so scared…”

Ten rolls over to sling his own arm around Haechan and rests his chin atop the witch’s head. “I’m sorry I scared you, Haechan. Thanks for rescuing my stupid ass. Are you alright? Did you see a doctor?”

“Yeah,” Ten’s head bobs as Haechan nods. “I’m okay too, just smoke inhalation. Nothing like… you looked really bad.” Haechan’s voice is shaky, and Ten grabs his hand to give it a squeeze.

“I’m okay,” he reiterates. “We’re both okay. That’s… that’s the most important thing.” He presses a kiss to the crown of Haechan’s head, then pulls him closer. His heart clenches painfully as he thinks of the studio, of his home. “The shop, Haechannie, is it… is there anything left? And—” oh Goddness, “and Louis?”

That question is answered as Johnny swings into the room with an oversized cat carrier in his arms. Louis sits inside, looking as pristine and unflappable as Ten as ever seen him. “This smart boy stayed in the basement, and those wards held,” Johnny explains. “We found him curled around your sun lamp, I’ll show you pictures later—it was really cute.” He opens the latch on the carrier and Louis springs out onto the bed. He walks straight onto Ten’s tender chest to scold him, meowing loudly. Ten detangles himself from Haechan to scoop the cat into his arms and press his face against his tummy. He assumes he’s forgiven once Louis quiets down and starts purring.

Ten settles the cat in his lap and looks up to find that Johnny has taken a seat at the foot of the bed. “The basement was fine, Tennie, but the rest of the building… The fire department must have gotten there shortly after we left, but there’s a lot of damage. I’m sorry, Ten.”

Ten nods. His greatest accomplishment, in ashes. His home, gone up in smoke. At least some of his supplies will have been kept safe in the basement, but that hardly feels like a consolation right now.

Johnny make a soothing noise and crawls up the bed to sit at Ten’s right side, sandwiching him between himself and Haechan. He pulls Ten’s upper body towards him and wraps him in a warm hug. That’s when Ten realizes he’s crying. He presses his face into Johnny’s broad chest and sobs, all the implications of the fire hitting him at once. Another set of arms loops around him from the back, Haechan leaning in to provide more comfort.

They hold him as he cries himself out. Ten isn’t sure how long it takes, but when he does pull away, Johnny gives him a patient smile and thumbs away his last few tears. “It’s going to be okay, Tennie. We’ll figure it out.”

“And Kun is finally coming back!” Haechan interjects. “He said he’d help you with the insurance stuff—actually he said to make sure you waited for him before calling your insurance people. I think he wants to get the magic stuff sorted before the mundies tromp around the place.”

Right. Insurance. God, that’ll be a nightmare, but at least it means he should be able to restore the studio, or afford a new place. Kun will help him figure it out.

Ten lets out a shaky breath. “Thanks, both of you. Sorry for losing it like that.” He tries to laugh it off, but both Johnny and Haechan cluck their tongues at him. That seems to startle them out of the moment as they only now seem to notice how close they’re now sitting.

Haechan’s face reddens. “I need to… check a thing,” he mumbles, rolling off the bed and zipping out the door.

“Oh, Haechan!” They hear Taeyong call from another room. “You’re just in time to help me get lunch started!”

As the sound of pots clattering echoes through the house, Ten looks up at Johnny to find him studying him with a closed-off expression.

“Something on my face, Johnny-boy?” Ten huffs. Johnny cracks a smile and leans down to nuzzle his cheek.

“Just your beauty~!” He sing-songs. What a ham.

“Seriously, John, what’s on your mind? You must be processing a lot right now, with the whole… binding thing, right?”

Johnny sighs and his shoulders slump down. “With everything that’s been going on, between your injuries and Donghyuck’s—ah, I need to get into the habit of calling him Haechan, don’t I—anyways, between your injuries, and handling the Contra, I feel like I haven’t had a chance to really process what happened.

“It’s strange though. I knew being bound affected demon’s natures—Jae mentioned it before—but I never would have thought it would be to this extent. The drives and instincts I’ve gotten used to feeling all the time are just…muted. I feel more like myself than I have in years. Since before. I know I should feel angry to have gotten bound, but that feeling just isn’t coming.”

Ten tries to imagine what that must be like, but he supposes he could never really understand. He pulls Johnny into a tighter hug. Louis meows a complaint before resettling on Johnny’s lap.

“So how do you know Jaehyun, anyways?” Ten asks, deciding to change the subject.

Johnny seems glad to move on. “Oh, we met when I first came to Boston. I was lucky to run into him, honestly. He’s friendly, and Taeyongie’s nurturing instincts kicked in once he told them about me, so they ended up inviting me to stay with them for a time. Taeyong would adopt every lost lamb in the world if his partners would let him. I was lucky they convinced Doyoungie to give me a chance. I come back to visit every once in a while.”

Ten starts to nod, then pauses. “Wait, when did you come to Boston the first time? Didn’t you just come here when Haechan summoned you?” He doesn’t get an answer, so he reaches up to tug at Johnny’s earlobe. “John.”

“Ah, it’s embarrassing,” Johnny whines and folds himself over to hide his face in Ten’s neck. Louis decides he’s had enough of all this movement and goes to curl up at the foot of the bed where he won’t be jostled. “It was about three years ago? I stayed in Georgia for a few months after the whole… becoming a demon thing. I can’t remember a lot from that time, honestly, I think I was in a frenzy. When I started to get my bearings, all I could think about was finding you. I managed to track you to Boston, found your shop right after you opened. I almost walked in, but…” he grips Ten’s waist tightly, then loosens his hold and sits upright again.

“But I realized I wasn’t welcome to just walk back into your life. You ran away. And it hurt, but I wanted to respect that you didn’t want me, as a demon-blood.”

Ten isn’t sure if the strangled sound that leaves his throat is a sob or a scream, but he climbs over Johnny’s lap before he can decide, straddling his thighs and pressing him close. “Oh, Johnny,” this time it is a clear sob. “Baby, I’m sorry. I didn’t… I’d thought you were gone, after—I’d thought everything that made you my Johnny was gone, and I was too much of a coward to see for myself. I’m so sorry, baby.”

“Shh, it’s okay, Tennie. I understand, I really do. I forgive you.” Johnny tucks his face back into the crook of Ten’s neck, pulling him closer. He rubs one gentle hand soothingly over Ten’s back, his other hand a steady anchor on Ten’s waist. “I had a lot of mixed feelings when I found out that Haechan was hiding out with you, but for all the drama… it was so good to have an excuse to see you again. I could tell you were scared at first, but you didn’t tell me to leave, at least until I pushed too far.”

“I’m sorry for pushing you away again, Johnny. You still came back when I needed you, though. Thank you. For saving me, and for submitting to the binding. You saved my life…”

“You wouldn’t have been in danger if it weren’t for me, so you really shouldn’t thank me. When I saw the flames in the studio, but couldn’t go in… I was so scared, Tennie. I meant it when I said I wasn’t going to hurt Haechan—how could I after he rescued you, after he put himself in danger to bring you to me? But I understand why you wouldn’t believe me without a stronger oath.”

“Thank you anyways, Johnny. Whatever the circumstances were, you saved me. And you spared Haechan, at a great personal price.”

“I would do it again, whatever it took to save you, no matter the cost.” Johnny lets his hands drop back to his side. Ten takes the opportunity to lie back down. He hadn’t noticed before how sore he felt, but he thinks he might have pushed himself a little too hard by climbing all over Johnny. As he settles back down, Johnny continues. “Anyway, I don’t know what you’re planning to do next, but Taeyong said you were welcome to stay here as long as needed. Haechan too.”

“What about you? Aren’t you going to stay?” Ten tries to catch Johnny’s hand in his, but the other man folds them together in his lap. He’s gazing out the window instead of looking at Ten.

“I don’t think that’s such a great idea. I have plans to root out what remains of the Contra, I don’t want to give them a chance to regroup. Besides… I don’t want to get between whatever is going on between you and Haechan.”

“I—” Ten’s stomach twists itself in knots. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t be coy, Tennie, I know you too well for that. I see the way you look at him. And even a blind man could see the way he looks at you.” Johnny finally meets Ten’s gaze, his eyes resigned. “We had our time together, but I know that’s in the past. You two are good for one another. I don’t mind stepping aside if I know you’ll be happy.”

“No!” Ten sits back up, though it takes him two tries. Johnny floats his arms in the air around Ten as if he’s worried he’ll collapse. “I’m not letting you go again that easily. You told me before that you still loved me, and I didn’t tell you then, but I still love you too. And maybe it’s selfish, but I don’t want to choose.” He searches Johnny’s eyes desperately, not sure if he sees what he’s looking for. “I think I love him, also. And that’s frightening, in a different way, but I want you by my side as I figure that out too. Is that too much to ask of you?”

“Of course not,” Johnny is quick to answer. He shifts closer again so Ten can lean on him instead of straining to keep himself upright. “Any way you want me, you can have me. I don’t want to lose you again.”

“Thank you, John. I don’t know what it all means yet, but I want both of you with me moving forward, when I find a new place to live and set up shop. I mean… I have to talk to Haechan about it too, and ask what he feels.”

“Well, he’s been standing in the hallway with your lunch for the past few minutes, so you probably don’t have to repeat the whole spiel,” Johnny casually spills, bringing a hand up to play with the hairs over the back of Ten’s neck.

Ten’s head snaps to the doorway. Sure enough, Haechan shuffles in a moment later, his face flushed. He’s carrying a bowl of soup.

“I didn’t want to interrupt,” he mumbles as he sets the bowl on the side table.

“Of course you didn’t, you little eavesdropper.” Ten goes to ruffle his hair, but hesitates, unsure if that would be welcome given what Haechan just overheard.

Haechan catches the hesitance and huffs. He sits himself down at the edge of the bed and sticks his head under Ten’s outstretched hand, like Louis demanding scritches. Ten obliges until his arm gets too tired to keep holding up.

Haechan takes a deep breath once Ten pulls his hand away. “Well, apparently it’s not news to you, Ten, but I am pretty in love with you. I didn’t think it was something I’d ever tell you, since I expected to either be dead or living under an assumed name in Fujian for the rest of my life, but yeah.” Hearing the confession triggers bubbles and butterflies in Ten’s stomach, but he keeps quiet. Haechan isn’t done. “And I’m not saying no to a… three-way arrangement of some kind, but it’s something I want to think over and talk about more when we aren’t fresh out of a near death experience. There’s a lot to consider, between your history and the bond and everything. Is that okay?” He looks up at Ten, clearly self-conscious.

“Of course, Hachannie,” he’s quick to assure him. “We’re not jumping into anything. And if we do decide to try and you don’t like it, we can always go back to just friends. Or just master and apprentice, I should say—there is no way I’m letting you get out of finishing your training at this point, you’re too talented and too far along for that.” He yawns, wondering where all his earlier energy went.

Haechan’s eyes widen and he fumbles for the soup bowl he’s set aside. “Taeyong said to make sure you ate this before going back to sleep. Can you manage a spoon?”

Ten knows he absolutely cannot. “No,” he pouts. “Can you feed me?”

Johnny ends up helping too, wedging Ten between his legs and letting him lean back against his chest to keep him upright as Haechan feeds him one spoonful at a time. Once he finishes, barely able to keep his eyes open, they lower him back down and tuck him in.

“Wait,” he calls when Johnny draws the window curtains, casting the room into shadow. A slight panic builds in his chest. “Can you two stay with me?” He feels suddenly scared that this was a dream, that he’ll go to sleep and then wake to find them gone.

Johnny and Haechan share a look, and apparently a silent agreement. “Of course, Tennie,” Johnny says, sitting beside him and taking his hand. Haechan slips under the covers and spoons up behind him. Ten hums in satisfaction, tugging weakly at Johnny’s hand until he lies down next to him too.

There, safe between the men he loves, and with Louis to watch over them, Ten drifts off to sleep. He doesn’t know what the future holds, but if Haechan and Johnny are at his side, he can handle it.

**Author's Note:**

> the actual poly negotiations are extensive, to say the least, given all the weird power dynamics in play, but the boys do figure it out. It is a lovely story that I probably will not be telling. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed! Please leave kudos and comments if you did, I'd love to hear what you thought!
> 
> [Follow me on twitter!](https://twitter.com/hyuckaboo)


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